ING Headquarters, Amsterdam

The ten towers of the ING Bank HQ have a total of 43 working floors. The energy concept has a high economical energy result. Appreciation of the building both by the people working in it and its visitors, is also determined buy the use of colour and art. The building was predestined to be one of the lowest energy consumption buildings in the world in 1987.

The building attracts attention because of its form, architecture, interior and garden design.

Inside

In each tower the daylight enters through a dome and illuminates voids (glass-roofed stairwells), giving a lively appearance to the indoor walkway linking the towers. The central facilities such as reception, four restaurants, snack bar, post room, library, film theatre, PR centre, and conference rooms are located on this indoor walkway.

The use of plants makes the indoor walkway a much more pleasant link between working areas than the long corridors one generally finds in large buildings. Besides lifts, recognisable by the use of striking colours, the staircases have been centrally installed in the towers so they invite the use of it, rather than taking the lift.

Outside

The building’s appearance is determined by ten towers of varying heights, whose walls are slightly sloping. There is hardly any wall that is vertical. Together the towers form a capricious ‘S’, and consequently few offices face the public road. In addition, the sloping walls reflect noise upwards to reduce noise nuisance. The ten towers are three to six storeys high. The relatively large external wall surface is made up nearly entirely of prefabricated concrete units, clad with handmade bricks. A quarter of the façade is formed by the windows, creating a favourable balance between heat loss and the admission of daylight.

Gardens

The design of the roof garden on the parking for the ING headquarters is +/- 6.700 m2 and was made in collaboration with Jørn Copijn, Garden and Landscape Architect. The building has an English Garden, a Finnish garden and a Japanese garden on top of the parking garage (which is partly underground). There are many trees, waterfalls, bushes and lots of flowers, creating a natural environment for the people who work there. This project no longer considered as a passive system, but as an organism that interacts with man and the environment.

Transformation

Currently we are working on plans for the transformation of the building into apartments, among many other functions.

In 2007 it was chosen as the 3rd most beautiful building of all time by the Dutch public.

The project contains: 58.000 m² office and 28.000 m² parking garage and has a total area of 86.000 m²

Awards received for the ING Bank, Amsterdam

1987

Publics Prize Amsterdam The public of Amsterdam chose the ING Bank as the most interesting Building since 1970.

1988

Art and Work Award Integration of arts and architecture in the working area London.

1988

National Painting Award Prize given for the contribution to the aesthetic and functional qualities of colour use.

1988

Silver BNA-Cube (= Dutch Society of Architects) Award given in recognition of the great importance to creative coÃ¶peration between the client and the architect.